Colin Kaepernick on SI cover

A year after two painful punt returns and a missed field-goal try prevented a bro’-bowl Super Bowl, the 49ers are on Sports Illustrated’s national cover and the Ravens are on the regional cover this week.

This, of course, is bad news for fans of each team who believe in the SI cover jinx. The 49ers, after all, were last magazine cover subjects before last season’s NFC Championship Game (see: two painful punt returns) when Frank Gore, Bruce Miller, Alex Smith and Jonathan Goodwin were featured in pre-snap symmetry.

This year, Colin Kaepernick is the main attraction. Off to the side is a cutout of the face of an open-mouthed and wild-eyed Jim Harbaugh, with the headline: “HOLY … Shout It From The Mountaintop, Jim – You Were Dead On About Colin Kaepernick.”

And people are dead wrong to think a team’s or athlete’s fortunes can be swung by appearing on the cover of a national magazine, right?

It’s about as silly as asserting the 49ers’ win-loss pattern this season (W-W-L-W-W-L-W-W-T-W-W-L-W-W-L-W-W-?) portends a loss Sunday in Atlanta.